With some more topsides photos to come. Of course I had to get the UW photos up first, right? :-)

This was my first time shooting all manual everything - strobes and camera, and I'm really pleased with the results.

The dive that we did with the sealions was in the shadow of the island and I was BARELY metering f4@ 1/60th or 1/90th with my Sigma 14mm lens. Eric was smart enough to switch to ISO200 - but it didn't occur to me until later. Maybe next time!

Underwater photography in cold water is much more challenging than in the carribean or indo-pacific, so I have to give Kudos to Herbko and other coldwater shooters (you misfits know who you are!). I find that I'm spending more time trying to stay alive than compose a shot. What with the cold, the surge moving you back and forth, and moving your SUBJECT back and forth too - things can get tricky.

Yes, I totally agree. But I told Eric before our first dive "Get ready to lower your expectations for how many keeper shots you are going to get." It's just not the same as floating motionless in 82 degree water with 150' viz in the Bahamas.

DOF is another one of these tricky subjects that should be treated a little more carefully.

The DOF of a 15mm lens is the same independent of whatever media you have at the focal plane. Now you can argue that to get the same field of view a 35mm camera would have had to use a 22mm lens and therefore have less DOF. This line of reasoning works in some cases, but not always.